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Hugues de Riedmatten, ICREA professor at the ICFO, has been given a grant to pursue his project Ensemble-based Advanced Quantum Light Matter Interfaces. The goal of the project is to develop a new generation of photonic quantum memories that have enhanced storage properties and embedded quantum processing capabilities. Two physical systems will be investigated in the project: laser-cooled rubidium atoms and solid-state atomic ensembles based on rare-earth-doped solids. The memories will then be used to explore new avenues in the quantum control of matter-matter entanglement.

The project for which ICREA professor Morgan Mitchell has received a grant is Atomic Quantum Metrology. Atomic instruments such as atomic clocks, atomic gravimeters, and atomic magnetometers are the most sensitive instruments for measurements of time, gravity, and magnetic fields. Quantum optical effects such as entanglement can improve the sensitivity of these instruments, allowing them to detect tiny signals that would otherwise be buried in quantum mechanical noise. The project will apply state-of-the-art quantum optical techniques, many of them developed at the ICFO, to optical magnetometry using ultra-cold atoms. Revolutionary new proposals for quantum metrology will be tested, including interaction-based measurements and quantum compressed sensing.